No Name Wilkie Collins (e book reader android TXT) đ
- Author: Wilkie Collins
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âI must keep my promise not to weary you; I must bring this letter (sorely against my will) to an end. Patience! patience! I shall see you soon. George and I are both coming to London to take you back with us to Ventnor. This is my husbandâs invitation, mind, as well as mine. Donât suppose I married him, Magdalen, until I had taught him to think of you as I thinkâ âto wish with my wishes, and to hope with my hopes. I could say so much more about this, so much more about George, if I might only give my thoughts and my pen their own way; but I must leave Miss Garth (at her own special request) a blank space to fill up on the last page of this letter; and I must only add one word more before I say goodbyeâ âa word to warn you that I have another surprise in store, which I am keeping in reserve until we meet. Donât attempt to guess what it is. You might guess for ages, and be no nearer than you are now to the discovery of the truth.
âYour affectionate sister,
âNorah Bartram.â
(Added by Miss Garth.)
âMy Dear Childâ âIf I had ever lost my old loving recollection of you, I should feel it in my heart again now, when I know that it has pleased God to restore you to us from the brink of the grave. I add these lines to your sisterâs letter because I am not sure that you are quite so fit yet, as she thinks you, to accept her proposal. She has not said a word of her husband or herself which is not true. But Mr. Bartram is a stranger to you; and if you think you can recover more easily and more pleasantly to yourself under the wing of your old governess than under the protection of your new brother-in-law, come to me first, and trust to my reconciling Norah to the change of plans. I have secured the refusal of a little cottage at Shanklin, near enough to your sister to allow of your seeing each other whenever you like, and far enough away, at the same time, to secure you the privilege, when you wish it, of being alone. Send me one line before we meet to say yes or no, and I will write to Shanklin by the next post.
âAlways yours affectionately,
âHarriet Garth.â
The letter dropped from Magdalenâs hand. Thoughts which had never risen in her mind yet rose in it now.
Norah, whose courage under undeserved calamity had been the courage of resignationâ âNorah, who had patiently accepted her hard lot; who from first to last had meditated no vengeance and stooped to no deceitâ âNorah had reached the end which all her sisterâs ingenuity, all her sisterâs resolution, and all her sisterâs daring had failed to achieve. Openly and honorably, with love on one side and love on the other, Norah had married the man who possessed the Combe-Raven moneyâ âand Magdalenâs own scheme to recover it had opened the way to the event which had brought husband and wife together.
As the light of that overwhelming discovery broke on her mind, the old strife was renewed; and Good and Evil struggled once more which should win herâ âbut with added forces this time; with the new spirit that had been breathed into her new life; with the nobler sense that had grown with the growth of her gratitude to the man who had saved her, fighting on the better side. All the higher impulses of her nature, which had never, from first to last, let her err with impunityâ âwhich had tortured her, before her marriage and after it, with the remorse that no woman inherently heartless and inherently wicked can feelâ âall the nobler elements in her character, gathered their forces for the crowning struggle and strengthened her to meet, with no unworthy shrinking, the revelation that had opened on her view. Clearer and clearer, in the light of its own immortal life, the truth rose before her from the ashes of her dead passions, from the grave of her buried hopes. When she looked at the letter againâ âwhen she read the words once more which told her that the recovery of the lost fortune was her sisterâs triumph, not hers, she had victoriously trampled down all little jealousies and all mean regrets; she could say in her hearts of hearts, âNorah has deserved it!â
The day wore on. She sat absorbed in her own thoughts, and heedless of the second letter which she had not opened yet, until Kirkeâs return.
He stopped on the landing outside, and, opening the door a little way only, asked, without entering the room, if she wanted anything that he could send her. She begged him to come in. His face was worn and weary; he looked older than she had seen him look yet. âDid you put my letter on the table for me?â she asked.
âYes. I put it there at the doctorâs request.â
âI suppose the doctor told you it was from my sister? She is coming to see me, and Miss Garth is coming to see me. They will thank you for all your goodness to me better than I can.â
âI have no claim on their thanks,â he answered, sternly. âWhat I have done was not done for them, but for you.â He waited a little, and looked at her. His face would have betrayed him in that look, his voice would have betrayed him in the next words he spoke, if she had not guessed the truth already. âWhen your friends come here,â he resumed, âthey will take you away, I suppose, to some better place than this.â
âThey
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